Ocean Trash Hurting Local Turtles

Sea turtles are beautiful creatures that rely on the ocean for their survival. Unfortunately, this is being made more and more difficult all of the time. These animals are sharing their natural habitat with untold tons of trash. Between fishing trash and trash from the mainland, it seems there are barely any places left for turtles to swim without either ingesting trash, swimming with it or getting stuck in it. There are even floating masses of trash the size of Texas that these turtles have to contend with. This is evidenced by the recent find of a severely injured turtle in Karon Beach.

The turtle in question came ashore on Karon Beach in September of 2012. The turtle had been caught in fishing net. The net did not trap it. It mutilated it. Its right flipper was entirely cut off. Its left flipper was headed in the same direction, with very deep wounds cutting straight into the muscle. The turtle would not have lived much longer in all likelihood. Thankfully, it was found and rescued.

The Phuket Marine Biological Center took in the injured turtle and has since been mending its wounds. How successful they will be has yet to be seen, but the turtle is still alive and healing. A doctor at the center said that this is just one of 24 turtles that have come ashore and been treated since July of the same year. Only three of them were not in need of surgery at the time of their capture. Those three were victims of oil in the ocean. They have had the viscous substance cleaned off them and are now rehabilitating in the PMBC.